Aldehyde compounds are important compounds as, for example, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, perfumes, dyes, and organic intermediates.
As processes for obtaining aldehydes from ethers are known processes using, for example, a peroxide, lead tetraacetate, or copper nitrate as an oxidizing agent. These processes, however, require the use of dangerous reagents and/or metallic compounds in large amounts, and are therefore disadvantageous in handling property and cost efficiency.
Tetrahedron Lett., 1997, 7075 reports that when adamantane is reacted with nitrogen monoxide using N-hydroxyphthalimide as a catalyst, as in the present invention, Ritter reaction proceeds to give corresponding amides. This report lacks, however, a description of a reaction between ethers and nitrogen monoxide.